A study led by an international team of researchers published in Geophysical Research Letters reports the first global estimates of river discharge, the volume of water flowing past a point per unit time, derived from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite by addressing gaps where ground-based gauges that measure water levels in rivers and streams at specific locations are sparse or absent. This research demonstrates that satellite observations could substantially extend our understanding of river flow in hard-to-monitor regions.